NASA's Blue Marble: 50 Years Of Earth Images

NASA's Earth-observing satellites help scientists render photo-like composite images with unprecedented detail. Take a look, from the earliest attempts to the newest stunners.

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The underlying image of the Earth and clouds was taken in September 1997 by NOAA's GOES satellite. The ocean color data was collected by NASA's Wide Field-of-view Sensor satellite, while the land color is based on a vegetation index calculated using data from NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer. Those data sets are combined with a digital elevation model of Earth's topography from the U.S. Geological Survey. The Moon in the upper left was an artistic addition. Credit: NASA

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